scholarly journals Islamic Injunctions on Prisoner’s Immunity and Termination of captivity in War: The Case Study of Afghanistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (02) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Muhammad Tariq Ramzan ◽  
Amir Hayat ◽  
Hafiza Sumera Rabia

Afghanistan remained an arena for international powers for the last two centuries. The climax period of the militant activities in this soil was from September 2001 to August 2021. Millions of human entities took part in this escalation and a large number of human fabric became captive by the detaining powers during this period. At the end of the armed climax, the emerging political & military coalition on this soil declared its stance about the method of governance after 15 August 2021 which would be based upon Islamic resources. In the perspective of this armed conflict, the question of prisoner’s immunity and termination of captivity in war attracted the attention of global powers. What options be available to prisoners of war about termination of war captivity under Islamic International Humanitarian Law (IIHL) and Conventional International Humanitarian Law (CIHL), is the mainstay of this paper. To answer the question, Islamic jurisprudence provides five methods to dissolve the detention and captivity in war. These methods are respectively freedom gratis, ransom, exchange of prisoners of war, execution, and enslavement. According to Islamic military guidance, freedom gratis remains the general practice in entire Islamic military history. Contrary to it, Ransom and exchange of prisoners of war were occasionally utilized and not the general practice in the entire military history of Islam. The execution and enslavement were pre-Islamic methods and practices. A set of Islamic injunctions were revealed to reform them (Execution & Enslavement) and hence they have been invoked as the source of reference in Islamic prudential literature. Along with, principles of conventional international humanitarian law are also associated with this discourse. Under these facts, this paper is a strenuous effort to embark on the solution of the matter which would be acceptable to all stakeholders regarding Afghanistan. 

Author(s):  
Yutaka Arai-Takahashi

Abstract The requirement of organization is supposed to be of special importance in international humanitarian law (IHL). In the situation of international armed conflict (IAC), this requirement is implicit as part of the collective conditions to be fulfilled by irregular/independent armed groups to enable their members to claim the prisoners of war status under Article 4 A(2) of the Third Geneva Convention. In a non-international armed conflict (NIAC), the eponymous requirement serves, alongside the requirement of intensity of violence, as the threshold condition for ascertaining the onset of a NIAC. While the requirement of organization has not caused much of disputes in IACs, the international criminal tribunals have shown a willingness to examine scrupulously if armed groups in NIACs are sufficiently organized. Still, this article argues that there is need for a nuanced assessment of the organizational level of an armed group in some specific phases of the ongoing armed conflict whose legal character switches (from an NIAC to an IAC, vice-versa, and from a NIAC to a law-enforcement model). It explores what rationales and argumentative model may be adduced to explain such varying standards for organization in different contexts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Oleksandra Severinova ◽  

The article analyzes the theoretical and methodological aspects of the formation and development of doctrinal ideas about the meaning of the concept of «armed conflict» in the history of world political and legal thought. The question of the name of the branch of law that regulates armed conflict, by analyzing its historical names such as «law of war», «laws and customs of war», «law of armed conflict», «international humanitarian law» and «international humanitarian law, used in armed conflicts». As a result of this analysis, it can be concluded that it would be most appropriate to use the terms «international humanitarian law» only in a narrow sense or «international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts», which is more cumbersome but most accurately describes the field. It is emphasized that due to the availability of new powerful weapons (economic, political, informational, cultural and weapons of mass destruction), which are dangerous both for the aggressor and for the whole world; the aggressor's desire to downplay its role in resolving conflicts in order to avoid sanctions from other countries and international organizations, as well as to prevent the loss of its authority and position on the world stage; the attempts of the aggressor countries to establish their control over the objects of aggression (including integrating them into their political, economic and security systems) without excessive damage to them is the transformation of methods and means of warfare. It is determined that the long history of the formation of the law of armed conflict has led to the adoption at the level of international law of the provision prohibiting any armed aggression in the world, which is reflected in such a principle as non-use of force or threat of force. At the same time, the UN Charter became the first international act in the history of mankind, which completely prohibited armed aggression and enshrined this principle at the international level, which is binding on all states of the modern world.


2006 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 394-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.J.C. Schimmelpenninck van der Oije

AbstractWhat is it like to be working in the field with international humanitarian law during an armed conflict? In the article ‘International Humanitarian Law from a field perspective - case study: Nepal‘, the promotion of international humanitarian law is described through the eyes of a humanitarian aid worker. The author worked as a delegate for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) during the civil war in Nepal. International humanitarian law forms the legal basis of the ICRC's presence in Nepal, it's humanitarian activities and confidential interventions. Nepal and its conflict are introduced, as well as the warring parties and the Red Cross in Nepal. Various humanitarian activities and dilemma's are described. Through this article the YIHL seeks to link theory and practice, and focus on international humanitarian law from an operational perspective.


Author(s):  
Emily Crawford

Levée en masse – the spontaneous uprising of the civilian population against an invading force – has long been a part of the modern law of armed conflict with regard to determining who may legitimately participate in armed conflict. The concept originated during the revolutionary wars in America and France, and was incorporated into the first codified rules of armed conflict. However, despite the prevalence of the category of levée en masse in the modern laws of armed conflict, there have been few, if any, instances of levée en masse taking place in modern armed conflicts. This article examines how and why the category of levée en masse developed. In doing so, this article situates the concept and evolution of levée en masse within the history of international humanitarian law more generally.


1994 ◽  
Vol 34 (300) ◽  
pp. 240-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Teresa Dutli ◽  
Cristina Pellandini

The fundamental instruments of international humanitarian law are well known. They are principally the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977, as well as an extensive framework of customary law. These instruments deal with issues of vital importance in times of armed conflict including protection of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, prisoners of war and civilian internees, as well as the protection of the civilian population as a whole.


rahatulquloob ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 96-105
Author(s):  
Dr. Barkat Ali ◽  
Dr. Muhammad Saeed Sheikh ◽  
Dr. Muhammad Sohail

This research paper evaluates the Islamic values vis-a-vis Geneva Convention concerning the rights of women warriors as prisoners of war by the victorious country. The discussion is to discover the similarities and differences between the two areas on the subject. This study focuses the probability of combining these two separate areas but common in objectivity. The Islamic law protects the women from the scourges of war in a number of ways. Similarly, the Geneva Convention also tries to protect the women as prisoners of war. This study concerns the main research question as to whether there may be the compatibility between Islamic and Geneva Convention law for developing a common code on the issue of rights of women worriers. The objective of the study undertaken is to develop a common code through reconciliation between these two separate regulations for conducting war, and ensuring the upholding of human dignity of female worriers. This will complement the existing knowledge on the issue as a guideline for all concerned in the context of International Humanitarian Law.


Author(s):  
Hill-Cawthorne Lawrence

This chapter identifies the main categories of persons deemed to be in need of protection in situations of armed conflict, according to which the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) are structured. The two principal categories of persons under the law of international armed conflict (IAC) are combatants/prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians. This categorization lies at the heart of one of the key principles of IHL, that of the distinction between combatants (being, generally, lawful targets) and civilians (being, generally, not lawful targets). These two principal categories are then further divided, with special (additional) rules applying to certain persons falling within each sub-category—including the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked; women; children; the elderly, disabled, and infirm; refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); mercenaries and spies; journalists; and the missing and the dead. For some of these categories of persons, such as women and displaced persons, the rules remain very basic and inadequate for the contemporary challenges faced in armed conflicts. What is more, many of these categories are even less clearly defined under the law of non-international armed conflict (NIAC).


2018 ◽  
pp. 191-222
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Kahn

The conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Crimea are not the first time sovereign States have clashed under murky and confused circumstances. The law governing international armed conflict, i.e. the law regulating war between States, has long recognized this fact; the threshold to trigger it is a very low one, and it applies “even if the state of war is not recognized by one of them.” Nevertheless, some perceive Ukraine as a case of “hybrid war” for which the old rules are ill-fitting at best, and no longer capable of regulation or restraint. What happens to international humanitarian law (IHL) when, according to Russian General Valériy Gerasimov, the hybrid nature of recent conflicts produces a “tendency to erase differences between the states of war and peace?” This chapter argues that there are in fact two distinct armed conflicts ongoing in eastern Ukraine. First, there is an ongoing but unacknowledged international armed conflict (IAC) in eastern Ukraine between Ukraine and Russia. Second, there is also fighting sufficiently intense and involving sufficiently organized non-State actors to be considered a non-international armed conflict (NIAC) between the Ukrainian State and rebel forces in Donetsk and Luhansk. Adding another layer of complexity, at certain times and places, it may be that this NIAC might have transformed into an IAC because of Russia’s overall control of these non-State actors.


Author(s):  
David Turns

The international law of armed conflict (also known as international humanitarian law or the law of war) regulates the conduct of hostilities—including the use of weaponry—and the protection of victims in situations of both international and non-international armed conflict. Rooted in customary law, often of very great antiquity, since the late nineteenth century it has become one of the most intensively codified areas of international law. This chapter outlines the scope of application of the law; issues of personal status (combatants and civilians); the conduct of hostilities (methods and means of warfare, including choice of weapons and targeting operations); the protection of victims (sick, wounded, shipwrecked, prisoners of war, and civilians); and various ways of securing the law’s implementation and enforcement.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document